As a Pixel Watch fan, here are the 3 reasons I’m excited about the Pixel Watch 4

I’ve been a Google Pixel Watch user and fan since the original launched in 2022. I wore it every day — except when I was charging it — and then upgraded to the Pixel Watch 2 and later to the 45mm Pixel Watch 3. In the last three years, you could hardly see me without Google’s smartwatch strapped to my wrist, and for good reason. I love the Fitbit integration and the fact that I can keep my existing fitness data rolling without wearing a standalone tracker. The smart apps and functions are a nice extra on top of this.

But my time with the Pixel Watch 3 is drawing to a close because there’s a successor on the horizon. Although it might not seem like there’s much new about the Pixel Watch 4, I can still see three big improvements that make me want to upgrade the moment the new watch launches. Here they are.

We’ve come a long way since the original Pixel Watch. My Watch 3 is larger, has a much bigger display in its 45mm size option, and slimmer bezels, but if I stare closely at it, I can clearly see some wasted black space around the display. Abolish those bezels and give me more room for my information, please!

On such a tiny display, every millimeter matters, especially when Google is cornering [sic] itself into a circular shape that is the very opposite of information-friendly. I don’t mind the circle (though I’ll forever be a proponent of offering a square option for those who want it), but if all I get are two readable lines while the rest of the display acts as a nice buffer for things to scroll in and out of, then I’d want those two lines to be the widest and tallest possible.

The many Pixel Watch 4 renders that have leaked so far, including the ones shared by Google, suggest that the new watch will indeed have a larger display and smaller bezels. We haven’t reached the full wrap-around edge display that I dream of, but I gotta say: the Watch 4 looks really good, and if my personal experience with previous Pixel smartwatches has taught me anything, it’s that the real watch will look better in person than in any online render. I’m already a fan of this one. Add the latest rumors that the display will go up to 3000 nits in brightness, and I’m ready to unbuckle this ol’ Watch 3 and upgrade today.

Does my 45mm Pixel Watch 3 charge faster and last longer than my first Pixel Watch? Sure. Is it enough? Not nearly. I come from the age of Fitbit trackers, which lasted four to five days on a charge; as a matter of fact, I still see my husband only charging his Fitbit Sense 2 once every five days, and I’m jealous. He doesn’t even pack a charger on long weekend trips; what sorcery is that? So, of course, I would like to get more juice on my watch. I want to worry less about packing a charger or being near one at all times, and I don’t want to keep losing data and activities or sleep because my watch’s battery is dead or I left it on the charger.

Our Android Authority sources told us that the Pixel Watch 4 will have larger batteries: 327mAh for the 41mm model (vs. 307mAh for the Watch 3) and 459mAh for the 45mm (vs. 420mAh for the Watch 3). Those tiny improvements might not seem like much on paper, but in such a small body, any battery upgrade feels substantially difficult to achieve and equally crucial. Couple that with Wear OS 6’s promised 10% battery improvement, and I understand why the recent rumors say the large Watch 4 will last up to 40 hours with the always-on display enabled. Right now, I eek out about 32-34 hours or so from my Pixel Watch 3, so that’d be a nice improvement for me. I wish Google would go for a more efficient processor, too, to improve these numbers further, but it seems like we’re stuck with the same Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 chip.

On top of this, rumor says that the Pixel Watch 4 will use a new, utterly bizarre side charger. I’ve already shared my positive and negative thoughts about it (cliff notes: I think it’ll hold the watch better when charging, but I hate that Google is changing charger designs one more time with no backward compatibility and creating more e-waste), but one of the advantages seems to be faster charging. If my watch can’t last me several days on a charge, yet, I’ll take a reduced charge time as compensation. Basically, anything to make it more manageable on unpredictable days, which is when I usually struggle with my Pixel Watch 3’s battery life.

I have yet to break a Pixel Watch, despite wearing one for three years and inadvertently knocking it into walls and doors many, many times. I’ve even dropped each of my watches a few times — yes, I’m clumsy — and all I have to show for it are a few thin scratches here and there on the glass. My watches have been surprisingly durable, but I do feel my heart drop each time they slip or hit something because I know they’re not easy to repair at all. As a matter of fact, they’re not repairable at all.

Rumor has it, though, that the new charging mechanism has allowed Google to implement a more repairable design, making the Pixel Watch 4 easier to open, service, and put back together. I don’t want to ever need that feature, but if my luck runs out, I certainly appreciate the option to send my watch in for repair instead of throwing it in the garbage.

All of these improvements come on top of the expected Gemini integration and some health and activity enhancements. They make the Pixel Watch 4 a very cool upgrade, even for someone like me who already has the Pixel Watch 3. I’d still love for Google to surprise me with more features on August 20, but even without any extras, my wallet is ready.